Rochester Pride 2013
38 Year Landmark in the Gay
Community
Is a Proud Sponsor Celebrating
Pride 2013
and
40 Years to the Gay Alliance!

Celebrate PRIDE 2013
There’s No Place Like
Pride

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The Avenue Pub
522 Monroe Avenue
585-244-496

Rochester Pride Festival makes a triumphant
return to Manhattan Square Park for 2013. It has
been
10 years since the last time the event was held
there. The excitement through the day will carry
the theme “There’s No Place Like Pride!” The first
part of pride will be a Family Fun Event with no
cover charge! All are welcomed to come out and
enjoy this part, which will run from 12pm until
3:30pm.
The second part of the day will take place right
after the parade has ended at 5pm. There will be
a cover charge of $15 at the gate or $10 if purchased online in advance. This admission will give
you access to all the fantastic entertainment on
stage, to the amazing history pavilion and to some
of the finest vendors ever. You will have to be
there to experience it all!

Tickets for all events can be
purchased at RochesterPride.com
and:
* The Bachelor Forum
* Equal=Grounds
* Outlandish
* ParkLeigh

Pride Access

Festival: On Saturday, handicap parking will be available from PrideAccess
partner Trillium Health in their lot at 259 Monroe Ave, Rochester, NY
14607. Medical Motor will operate a shuttle with lift from noon to 9pm
between the Trillium parking lot and the Pride Festival site.
Picnic: Handicap parking will again be provided in the “lower lot” at
Genesee Valley Park. You must display your handicap parking permit to
enter the lot. New to the picnic? Ask attendants for directions as you
enter the Park.
Parade: Handicap parking for viewing the Pride Parade is recommended at
600 Park Avenue. This is a self-parking area with easy access to street
side viewing. Important to arrive early, well before the Parade step off at
3pm for Park Ave is closed during the Parade.
ASL Interpreters will be at the Flag Raising Ceremony on Friday July 19, and
on the Festival Stage on Saturday July 20.

NEW! Pride Rainbow Ride
Check rochesterpride.com for the route
Friday, June 19th
5:15pm
Beginning at 5:15 pm, cyclists will be bringing the Pride Colors
through the Neighborhood of the Arts and Park Ave,
South Wedge, and Corn Hill neighborhoods. Come out and
cheer them on as they bring the colors into Manhattan Square
Park. Check out rochesterpride.com for the route.

Pride Flag Raising
Manhattan Square Park
Friday, June 19th
6pm-7pm
The annual Flag Raising event will be held at Manhattan Square
Park featuring a new huge 30’ x 50’ flag presented to us by the
fantastic “Outlandish Gifts!” The bikers from Ride for Pride will
make their way down to the opening ceremony, followed by
performance by Rochester Women’s Chorus and an amazing
color guard group. Also, we will be sashing our Grand and
Honorary Marshals for the parade! Great start to an eventful
weekend.

“We have a great working relationship with the Sports Commission, so I was
not shocked at all of their support. They are experts at these types of events
and know a good concept when they see one. The fact that they are willing
to back this to the level they are shows the true potential of what the Pride
Games can become.
“I see the Pride games growing very quickly and eventually having numerous
sporting events during Pride weekend. There does not seem to be any other
city doing something like this as a part of their Pride, so it makes this unique.
We are in the geographic center of the Northeast, so it is easy for people
to travel here and we have a large gay population. I feel that this event will
become a core part of Rochester Pride, adding a new family friendly layer that
will potentially bring thousands of visitors into Rochester, all of which will be
able to see our great city and participate in the Pride festivities.”
Roc City Roller Derby will be part of the Pride Games, starting on July 19.
There will also be a July 20 bout, time TBA. All bouts take place at Bill Gray’s
Iceplex.
By Susan Jordan
For the first time, Rochester Pride will include a sports event: the exciting new Roc Pride Games. This year the Games consist of a gay ice
hockey tournament and roller derby bouts.
The free hockey tournament will feature players from NYC and Long
Island at Bill Gray’s Regional Iceplex, 2700 Brighton-Henrietta Townline
Road, starting Friday July 19, noon – 8pm and continuing 10am – 1pm
on Saturday and 9am – 1pm on Sunday.
This innovative event is the brainchild of Chris Woodworth, Director of
Programming and Marketing at the Iceplex. He brought his idea to the
Gay Alliance and then to the Monroe County Sports Commission, which
gave it the stamp of approval.
Chris told The Empty Closet, ‘The concept initially started as running
a hockey tournament during Pride weekend, which would allow us to
enhance the players’ experiences by incorporating Pride events into
the tournament. Once we sat down to discuss this with the Sports
Commission, we quickly came up with the idea of adding additional
sports and the creation of a pride specific sports invitational – the ROC
Pride games.

Roc City Roller Derby (501C3 non-profit athletic organization) was formed in
2008, started bouting in public in 2009, and became members of Women’s
Flat Track Derby Association in the Fall of 2011. There are two Travel Teams:
the Roc Stars and the B-Sides, who bout against teams from Leagues in other
cities in spring and summer, and three Home Teams: the Rottenchesters, the
Midtown Maulers, and the 5-H8-5s, who bout against each other in the Fall.
The Roc Stars placed second in a tournament of NYS Leagues in Long Island
over Labor Day Weekend in 2012. There are 111 League members.
ROC City Roller Derby
ROC City Roller Derby’s Participation in the ROC Pride Games will be called
Somewhere over the Painbow. On Friday night the Bout is called “Friends of
Dorothy” and features the Yellow Brick Rollers vs the Ruby Red Skaters. Doors
open at 7, the Derby starts at 8pm. On Saturday, RCRD presents “The Wizards
of Oz-some” where the Roc Stars vs Green Mountain Derby Dames and the
B-Sides vs Crown City Rollerz. Doors open at 5pm with Derby at 6pm.
Getting involved: There’s something for everyone in RCRD. Go to rocderby.
com/ContactUs.htm

“We came up with this deal a little late in the game for it to draw large
numbers in its first year,” he continued. “That will play in our favor
because we want to make sure we do things correctly, and if it were to
get too large too quick, it might jeopardize the participants’ experience. We expect this year to be a smaller event, and possibly just a
gay hockey tournament with four to eight teams competing. All of the
games will be scheduled around the key Pride events so that all the
players will be able to participate in them.

If you attend the ROC Pride Games Hockey and/or Roller
Derby on Friday, July 19th, stop to eat and drink at Bill Gray’s
Tap Room at the Iceplex between 5pm and 10pm and 15%
of all sales will go to The Gay Alliance. *You MUST mention
the Gay Alliance or ROC Pride Games to trigger the donation.
VA LGBT Poster_11x17.indd 1

An original member of the Gay Liberation Front
(GLF) at the University of Rochester, Patti tells
the story of going to her first meeting of the
organization after the October 3, 1970 meeting in
Todd Union which began the GLF’s existence.

Elected first President of the Gay Alliance in 1974,
after signing the GAGV incorporation papers in
December 1973. Whitey was an original member
of the Gay Liberation Front at the University of
Rochester. He was a “townie.”

Patti recounts walking down the corridor to
where the meeting was to take place and seeing
a flamboyant gay man and a woman in pigtails.
Patti decided to continue walking. Bob Osborn,
founder of the FLRF pressed Patti into getting
involved. She was instrumental in organizing
the women members of the GLF, and when the
GLF moved off campus, Patti had already begun
GROW (Gay Revolution of Women) which became the Lesbian Resource Center. Her political
activism included being Rochester’s representative to the NYS Coalition of Gay Activists during
the ‘70s, and being a delegate from Rochester to
the Dempcratic National Convention that chose
Jimmy Carter as its Presidential candidate. Over
the past 40 years to the present, patti continues
to be involved in gay politics and to actively support the Gay Alliance.

His activism began with the organization of the
girst action the GLF took at the Top of the Plaza.
A group of gay men and women went to the top of
the Plaza to dance. They began dancing as same
sex couples. The manager asked them to leave. As
they did, Bob Osborne passed out Gay Liberation
leaflets to the patrons.

In addition to her activism and her long friendship with the late Bob Osborne, Patti Evans was
actually at Stonewall. After witnessing 44 years
of LGBT activism and social change, she says,
“I’m always reminded of that expression, ‘One
step forward and two steps back.’ So I don’t see
that dramatic a change, but here is more acceptance now, which is good for young people.”
Patti was present on th second night of the
Stonewall Riots. She told The Empty Closet, “I
had a crush on a woman who had been kicked
out of the military for being gay. She had heard
about this peaceful candlelight march that was
being held at the Stonewall Inn, after the violence of the previous night. So we went, and of
course the violence broke out again. A policeman grabbed me and there was a second of eye
contact, and I said ‘Don’t you see we just want
the right to love?’ He replied ‘Go home, little girl’
and let go of me to grab someone else by the
hair. So that was my Stonewall moment.
Patti said about being named a Grand Marshal:
“I find it quite an honor and am glad to have the
chance to experience it – to be right there with
the community. I feel like the community has
given me a real honor. I’m grateful that our Rochester community has come a long way!”

Whitey also organized the First Gay Picnic at
Genesee Valley Park. When the Empty Closet was
turned over for publication nto the Gay Alliance,
Whitey recruited Jay Baker to be the EC’s first
editor. Over the past 40 years, Whitey has been a
constant active supporter of gay rights, and the
Gay Alliance.
He told The Empty Closet, “One thing I keep
thinking about is that for the last 15-20 years, the
local leadership (of the GAGV) has made far more
gains than we did. The public is far more prepared
to accept us than it used to be. In the early days
we never even thought about marriage. We had
just a few issues, like ending sodomy laws and
the harassment of gay bars by police. I remember
going to the RPD and meeting with this young
lieutenant, Gordon Urlacher, who later became
police chief. He has been named the liaison with
the gay community because he was in charge of
community relations. Michael Robertson, who took
over as president of the Gay Alliance after I ended
my one-year term, was the one who negotiated an
end to the bar raids.
“Things have changed radically since then. For
instance, now I am a member of the Genesee Valley Yacht Club, and am well known there to be gay.
That could NEVER have been possible in the ‘70s.
They didn’t even allow women to be members
then!
“Now one is able to be open and the consequences of being out are not so great. When I was
president of the GAGV, I was interviewed on the
radio and when I got to work that day my boss
said, ‘I heard you on the radio this morning.’ Word
spread throughout the company by the end of the
week but the amazing thing is, I didn’t get fired or
harassed. There were a few good-humored jokes,
but otherwise, not a thing.
“It’s little things like that – this is probably where
we helped – coming out in your workplaces or to
family or friends. As the years went on, more and
more people did that. What I find really surprising
today is the number of high school kids who are
out.”
As for being an Honorary Grand Marshal, Whitey
says, “I feel honored. I’m willing to do it, if that
means anything! Changes have come because
people were willing to come out.”

Jennifer Posey
& Zahra Langford
of Hedonist Chocolates

2013 GRAND MARSHALS
Jennifer Posey and Zahra Langford met
in Santa Cruz, California, in the summer
of 1996 and have been inseparable ever
since. They celebrated their commitment
ceremony in 2003, shortly before moving
to Michigan together so that Zahra could
pursue her graduate studies and Jennie
could further her career. In 2004, Zahra
accepted an internship at Xerox, which led
the couple to relocate to Rochester in the
fall of 2005.
In 2007, the couple had the fantastic idea
to start their own business specializing
in gourmet chocolates. Hedonist Artisan
Chocolates was built on Jennifer’s prior
chocolate experience and Zahra’s design
and marketing skills. Starting in a small
kitchen in the South Wedge the two would
go on to owning the entire building in a
few short years! The company specializes
in hand-crafted chocolate truffles and
chocolate treats using French chocolate
and fresh, all the finest natural ingredients.
Last year, the two expended the company
to include an upscale ice cream shop
called Hedonist Ice Cream. Hedonist Artisan Ice Cream makes small batch, super
premium ice creams and sorbets just next
door to the chocolate shop. They use local
cream and the freshest natural ingredients to create decadent flavors that bring
pleasure with every bite!

Jennifer Posey was born in Santa Cruz, California, in
1971. Her father was a fisherman and her mother
was a homemaker with a knack for cooking and creating holiday treats. She is the third of four children.
She grew up in this coastal town riding her onespeed beach cruiser to school, softball and basketball
practice, and of course, the beach. She attended
Catholic school until 8th grade, where her role models
were nuns. The sisters took her under their wings and
taught her to be strong, to be herself, to sing even
if she was out of tune, and how to box out on the
basketball court.
Jennifer graduated from Santa Cruz High in 1990,
after which she spent some time at Cabrillo Community College, playing softball, running a tournament
business, and working for a variety of Parks and
Recreation Departments. At this time she also worked
at Richard Donnelly’s Chocolates where she was educated to become a master chocolatier. Later, Jennie
would transfer to San Jose State University for both
Undergraduate and Graduate schools with a major in
Leisure Studies. Most of her career afterword would
be working in public administration. The last position
Jennie held was in her field was as the Director of
Parks and Recreation for the city of Milan, Michigan.
Jennifer now runs the Hedonist businesses full time.
Zahra Langford was born in Oakland, California, in
1974. Her parents were both public school teachers with many hobbies such as watercolor painting,
raising small farm animals, gardening, beekeeping,
and home brewing. She is the oldest of four children.
Growing up in the small town of Weed, California,
Zahra spend time in the outdoors as a kid. Her
parents didn’t approve of store bought sweets so
she was taught to make her own. As a teenager she
got involved with the drama department of the local
community college, which led to her first career in
theatre.
Zahra graduated from Weed High School in 1992
and then attended Santa Clara University, where
she majored in Theatre Arts and minored in Dance.
She spent several years after college doing costume
design and construction for various theatres in the
South Bay Area. In the late nineties, Zahra shifted
her career focus to digital design and worked in the
Silicon Valley as a web designer. To further her career,
she attended graduate school at the University of
Michigan Ann Arbor, where she received a Master
of Sciences in Information with a specialization in
Human-Computer Interaction. Zahra has been at
Xerox since 2004. She currently works as an Interaction Designer in the company’s Innovation Group and
co-owner of Hedonist Chocolates.

One headline for the show this year will be stellar performer
Pandora Boxx! This former Rochester resident will be
returning to her home town for an all-exciting performance
that is not to be missed. This girl will be hot and not just
because it’s July!
Pandora will be spending several days in the Rochester area. On July 1 again at Tilt, Pandora will perform her
own hilarious comedy show entitled “Lick This Box!” This
show just finished a sold-out off-Broadway run! She will
be featured in the spectacular Tilt-A-Whirl Drag Show with
98PXY’s Megan Carter, at Tilt Nightclub on Thursday July
18th at 10:30 pm. The final culmination be her performance
July 20th at the Rochester Pride Festival and one more time
at the Tilt Nightclub after party!

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There’s No Place Like Pride,
There’s No Place Like Rochester,
There’s No #1 Hit Music Station
Like 98PXY!

Line up to see your favorite community bands, floats, Kings
and Queens, politicians, churches, community groups, and
more. Each group will be judged by this year’s honorary parade
judges and have the potential to win great prizes.
Prizes:
*MUTHER’S FAVORITE Cash Award $300
Best FLOAT unit overall to incorporate the Parade theme.
*STONEWALL AWARD Cash Award $250
NP FLOAT with the most imaginative depiction of theme.
*RAINBOW AWARD Empty Closet Ad
FP FLOAT best portraying pride
*COMMUNITY AWARD Cash Award $250
NP Walking unit bet exhibiting community pride
*RUBY SLIPPER AWARD Cash Award $150
Most imaginative depiction of theme by walking unit

Tara Winner and Gerry Szymanski of the Gay Alliance Library and
Archives team say that there will be an opportunity to travel back in
time at the Pride Festival next month.
The Festival will be held after the Pride Parade in Manhattan Square
Park, and the History Pavilion, with its display of Rochester LGBT
community going back for decades, will be located in the former
Canopies restaurant, along with the Rainbow SAGE Lounge.
Gerry said, “The space was just remodeled and looks really nice. It will
be air-conditioned. It’s spacious and won’t be crowded. We were blown
away by how large it is.”
The exhibit, “Forging Alliances: Rochester’s LGBT Story,” will include
photos, texts, images from the Empty Closet, and catalogues of
historical photo files. There will also be artifacts on display – Gerry
noted, “We have a LOT of buttons!” The display will include early
magazines, t-shirts and much more, as well as a historical map of the
gay bars in 1970’s Rochester.
The catalogues were created by Library & Archive team members Jamie
Allen (George Eastman House photo curator) and Alice Carver-Kubik
(RIT archivist). Panels from the Tretter gay history collection at U of
Minnesota will be on loan, and the GAGV team is creating the display on
local Rochester LGBT history. The team also includes Bruce Woolley,
Jeff Fowler, Evelyn Bailey, and Michael Dauteuil.
Another feature is the video display. The trailer for the Shoulders To
Stand On film (which will premiere at ImageOut next fall) and the video
made a decade ago for the GAGV’s 30th anniversary will run on a video
loop: the entire sequence will take approximately 15 minutes.
Why is tracing our queer history important? Many young LGBT people
– and some not so young – have little knowledge even of today’s Gay
Alliance or the LGBT community, much less of the past 40-plus years.
Will they be interested?
Tara said, “The Gay Alliance was the hub of the LGBT community. It’s
a testament to the strength of the organization that 30-year olds don’t
know about it – they just accept that things have always been this way.”
Gerry added, “It’s integrated into the community. But we need to
acknowledge all the people who have worked so hard over the years.”
He said that the response to the JCC’s Holocaust Memorial exhibit
on Nazi oppression of gays last year was impressive. “It was wellattended,” he said, and there was a lot of interest. I think this will be the
same. For us to have all those ‘firsts’ in the ‘70’s is amazing.”
Tara said, “And to have preserved (our history) and now be using it is
amazing.”
Gerry said, “This is the first time we’ve had a comprehensive, really
thought-out plan for a history exhibit.” Tara added, “Our collection has
grown, and the Shoulders To Stand On film is coming to fruition, and with
the Gay Alliance and The Empty Closet reaching their 40th anniversaries,
it’s a great time to reflect on everything we’ve accomplished up to this
point.”

Gerry agreed that, with the presentation of the Helping People with
AIDS and Empty Closet archives to the Smithsonian Institution last
summer, “We’re part of the national record.”
The Tretter collection will be sending seven-foot-tall history panels.
Tretter Director Lisa Vecoli said, “The Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies
was created over several decades by founder Jean-Nickolaus Tretter
and donated to the University of Minnesota Libraries in 2001. It has
grown to encompass tens of thousands of items including books,
periodicals, manuscripts, organizational records, personal papers,
textiles, music, movies, posters, and ephemera…
“Long before shifting his collection to the University, Jean-Nickolaus
Tretter would take advantage of the Twin Cities Pride celebration to
increase public and community awareness of GLBT history. He would
bring displays from his collection to Pride, in the early years displaying
items in a tent. Later, the Pride Committee installed the display in the
History Pavilion in the park that hosts the festival. In 2012, in honor of
Jean’s retirement, the Pride Committee renamed the pavilion the JeanNickolaus Tretter History Pavilion and we welcomed over 2,000 visitors
during Pride weekend.
“Over the years, the display has grown…The full exhibit is two dozen
panels, each of which covers an element of GLBT history…Each panel
provides a glimpse into GLBT past and important moments that shape
events today. Some people who see the panels may want to explore
the archives to dig deeper. Others may leave happy with the knowledge
that the vibrant and dynamic history of the GLBT community is being
preserved for future generations. Hopefully everyone will take away an
appreciation for those who have come before and fought for equality
and civil rights.”

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Healthcare, as some may see it, is a big, faceless system.
Impersonal. Indifferent. One size ﬁts all.
Trillium Health is different—different from that perception.
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Most of all, we’re like you in that we want a clear solution when
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Come enjoy a relaxing day at the park with your family. Picnic with games,
vendors, food, and more.
Admission with Food and Beer Tokens: $20 in adv, $25 at the gate
Admission with Food Only: $15 in adv, $20 at the gate
Admission only: $10 in adv, $15 at the gate
Children under 12 FREE; Kiddy Plates $5

I pulled my seven-year-old daughter in
a wagon in the Rochester Pride Parade,
surprised that the only thing I found offensive
was the protesters, who targeted me as the
parent of a young child and screamed some
ungodly things through their bullhorns, I was
thankful that my daughter was too young
to understand the meaning of “sodomize
the children.” When the parade was over, I
watched the festival from outside the gate, not
sure if my daughter and I would be welcome.
Fast-forward to 2007. I am now employed as
the Outreach Coordinator at the Gay Alliance.
One day I am out at a work lunch with a
transman and two lesbians. At the restaurant
we spot a Gay Alliance board member and we
invite him to join us, but he excuses himself,
stating that he is having lunch with his wife.
“His wife?” one of the lesbians says. “I thought
he was family.” I remember being shocked
and angered at the comment. A dedicated
Gay Alliance board member and ally was not
considered family?

My first Pride ever wa sin 2004 and I was
definitely not “family.” I was a newbie to
the LGBT community, a relatively clueless
cisgender, straight person just beginning
to understand how much need to be done
What this meant, of course, was that despite
and what I could contribute to the fight for
my three years of work fighting for LGBT
LGBT equality.
equality, I was not family either.

Today, the Gay Alliance and the Rochester
Pride Picnic are 40 years old! It is our Ruby
Anniversary and the Rochester Pride Theme
is “There’s No Place Like Pride,” inspired
by the fabulous film The Wizard of Oz. For
many years not I have been the Gay Alliance
Volunteer Coordinator, so I will be there, no
doubt dressed up like the wicked witch or
a flying monkey, running around and feeling
very much a part of this amazing community.
I look back at my decade-long journey from
outsider looking in to becoming an integral
part of the adventure, and I realize that Pride
has never been about exclusion or individual
identities. It’s about our commonality, our
strengths, our unity and our vision for the
future. Somehow, without even realizing
when it happened, I have become family. Like
Dorothy, I had the power within me all along.
Please come and join us for Rochester Pride
and be a part of our family. You can see the
Rainbow Riders kick off our opening Flag
Raising ceremony, cheer at the ROC Pride
Games Gay Hockey tournament, watch the
Pride Parade march down Park Avenue, join
us for our all day Pride Festival, and help us
celebrate the 40th Rochester Pride Picnic!
So grab your ruby slippers, tap your heels
together three times and say, “There’s no
place like Pride!”

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A DOCUMENTARY CELEBRATING THE LGBT HISTORY OF ROCHESTER